Nature/Nurture

by Elody Gyekis

As a child, I spent hours exploring the woods barefoot. I sculpted tiny dwellings with twigs and clay, climbed into trees to read books, and turned my sketches of flowers into fairies. As an adult, these impulses have never left me. My art is still about stories, nature, and magic. 

What has changed is my framework for understanding the world. That many still value women for their submissiveness, youth, and beauty and men for their dominance, strength, and resources continues to damage us in uncountable ways. My work centers color, beauty and decoration, aesthetics that have long been considered feminine and thus unworthy in Western Art. My work celebrates women for their ability to nurture, heal, and make the world beautiful as well as for their strength, intelligence, and leadership. My work depicts the marvels of nature, weaving it through my figurative work and featuring it on its own. 

The theme of this show, “Nature/Nurture” captures the thread that ties my larger figurative pieces celebrating women with my loving studies of nature.  I make work about the wondrous natural world that feeds my soul and nurtures my being. I make work about gender identity, and the incredible people in my life who embrace their femininity, make the world beautiful, and nurture all that is precious within it.